The present invention relates to apparatus for slicing, skinning or similarly treating fish, slabs of bacon or analogous products. More particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus of the type wherein a preferably adjustable knife cooperates with a traction wheel and a hold-down device to convert a slab of bacon or an analogous product (hereinafter called product for short) into smaller pieces, especially slices, and wherein the product is delivered by a feeding unit, such as an endless belt conveyor. Still more particularly, the invention relates to improvements in apparatus of the above outlined character wherein at least the region immediately upstream of the knife and traction wheel is normally unaccessible to the hands of attendants.
Apparatus of the above outlined character are used, among others, to remove rinds from slabs of bacon or like products, to remove skin from fish and/or for similar purposes. It is desirable to design such apparatus with a view to allow for processing of differently configurated and/or dimensioned products, i.e., not only fish or slabs of bacon but also round pieces such as hams. As a rule, it is necessary to carry out at least some alterations before a presently known bacon slicing or skinning machine can be used to remove slices or skin from a ham, i.e., from the upper part of the leg of a pork or another animal. Furthermore, it is often desirable to remove skin together with a layer of bacon thereon, i.e., the apparatus should be capable of skinning as well as removing skin with a layer of edible material.
The commonly owned U.S. Pat. No. 4,188,870 discloses a bacon skinning machine wherein the product to be treated is placed onto a relatively long conveyor and a portion of the conveyor is surrounded by a cage having a length which at least equals the length of the arm of a grown person so that the attendant cannot reach the severing station. This practically eliminates the likelihood of injury to the hand or hands of an attendant, even if a careless attendant attempts to insert his or her fingers between the cage and the conveyor in order to push and/or orient the product which is about to enter the severing or skinning station.
German Offenlegungsschrift No. 24 20 188 discloses a modified apparatus wherein the means for preventing access to the severing station when the apparatus is in actual use comprises a funnel-shaped product supplying channel the inlet portion of which is vertical or nearly vertical and the remaining portion of which is substantially horizontal so that the operator is incapable of extending his or her arm through the thus configurated channel in order to reach the severing station. The channel is adjacent to an elongated endless conveyor forming part of the product feeding unit.
The aforedescribed conventional apparatus exhibit certain serious drawbacks. Thus, the relatively long endless conveyor of the feeding unit in the apparatus of Schill contributes to the bulk and space requirements of the apparatus. Moreover, a relatively long conveyor of the product feeding unit contributes to the initial as well as maintenance cost (because the surfaces to be cleaned are larger). Still further, the hold-down or biasing means in the apparatus of Schill do not exhibit a sufficient degree of mobility or adjustability to allow for proper engagement and retention of differently configurated and/or dimensioned products. As a rule, the hold-down device of such conventional apparatus is merely designed to perform a movement along an arcuate path which forms part of a circular path. Moreover, the endless conveyor of the apparatus which is disclosed in the aforementioned patent to Schill is capable of performing certain movements which are desirable only during the initial stage of penetration of the knife into a slab of bacon or the like.
The apparatus of the aforementioned Offenlegungsschrift does not embody any means for permitting adjustments of the endless conveyor which forms part of the feeding unit. The only adjustment which is contemplated in the apparatus of this reference is that between the feeding plane for the products on the one hand and the traction wheel and hold-down roller on the other hand in a direction to change the thickness of slices which are to be separated from the product. Here, too, the hold-down device cannot readily conform to the configuration of a product, especially if such configuration deviates from the standard shape. Since the funnel-shaped product supplying channel of the apparatus which is disclosed in the Offenlegungsschrift is closed at both sides so that is provides a relatively narrow path for the introduction of a product, the latter is often subjected to substantial deforming stresses during introduction into the channel and thence into the range of the skinning or slitting knife. Additional deformation of the product takes place during transport between the traction wheel and the hold-down roller because neither of these components can be adjusted within a reasonably wide range. Finally, the channel, the conveyor of the feeding unit, the traction wheel and the hold-down device prevent an attendant from observing all phases of the severing operation so that the product is often skinned or sliced into portions of undesirable or unsatisfactory size and/or shape.